Freedom Rally
May 6th, 2005 - Springfield, IL

Here we go again to Springfield to celebrate the freedom of riding our cycles. I was a little apprehensive about going this year since the last two the weather has been so bad. Especially last year. But we are hard dogs at going to these events. It started out pretty cool going down, but sunny. The ride down was not bad. The party at the bar Saturday night was OK too. Although I like Bootleggers better. And Sunday AM started out pretty nice. Sunny but cool. That is OK though. We did our usual breakfast run and then off to the IDOT parking lot. When we got there, it was pretty sparse even though the sun was shining. It didn't look like many were going to show up. But as time got closer to noon, the bikers started coming in big time. All in all, a lot of people showed up and the rally was a success as you can see by the attendance at the capital. Hey, no rain! What gives?

Unfortunately, shortly after starting our ride home, the clouds rolled in, the sun disappeared, and the temperatures dropped. Oh yeah, and the wind picked up. Man did it pick up. The ride home was quite a challenge. Even though it didn't rain, it was a cold ride. When I got home, I called and the temperature was 49 degrees. You can imagine 200 some miles in wind and those temperatures at 75 miles an hour. Needless to say, I was glad to stop anywhere and warm up.

So check out the photos anyway. I took a lot that will give you and idea of how the weekend went.

 

Mikey and Brian check out the "fire bike" as it were at the poker run destination.

Bobby lending a shoulder to put ones weight on. Thank you very much!

It was a bit slow, but then they started coming into the IDOT parking lot.

Two dudes taking five!

Party time at the destination bar. Can't remember the name of the place though.

Check out in years past. I think this photo is a repeat of one from before.

And here-e-e-e-e-e-es Roger!

I was hanging behind stage getting photos of folks. Notice Cheryl in background giving her speech.

The gathering of "teddy's". Not as many as in years past.

Our group minus me. I'm taking the photo.

Finally, the parking lots are filling up. It was kind of slow to start. Didn't think too many would show.

Harley the wonder dawg!

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